Strange Indonesia Punishments for Quarantine Violations

By RodneyHatfieldJr for Into The Mind

Breaking quarantine is an extremely serious matter. You may be a carrier of the infectious Covid-19 virus and not recognize it. So these kinds of quarantines are set up to keep the general population safe. And if you break these required quarantines, you could receive a fine or even jail time. But a local Indonesia politician discovered a unique way to punish quarantine violators amid the coronavirus pandemic.


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Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati, head of Sragen Regency, has begun locking those intentionally disregarding the quarantine inside abandoned houses that are genuinely believed to be haunted. Sukowati noticed that many people traveling to Indonesia's densely populated Java Island were disregarding orders to isolate themselves for at least two weeks after arriving. So, the regency head decided to rely on local superstitions and fear to sufficiently punish potential violators.

Local villagers were ordered to convert abandoned homes into temporary detainment centers. Locals maintain a widespread belief that the buildings are haunted, a superstition connected to Indonesian folklore. Whether playing on superstitions represent a successful strategy to combat the spread of the coronavirus remains to be seen. But others on Java have attempted to use local folklore traditions to persuade residents to follow social distancing rules.


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Kepuh Village, also located on Java, has been patrolled by ghosts in an attempt to frighten people into staying home, A local youth group and the police coordinated together to have people patrol the streets as pocong, ghostly figures wrapped in white fabric. The ghosts powder their faces white and then put black coal around their eyes. Those disguised as ghosts patrol the streets and jump out of the shadows at unsuspecting passersby in an effort to terrify them home. The ghost they are representing is called the Pocong.  A Pocong also known as shroud ghost is an Indonesian and Malaysian ghost that is said to be the soul of a dead person trapped in its shroud.

Would that work in the Western world? I harbor my doubts. Being stuck in a detainment center with possible Covid patients but it may be haunted. I would guarantee there would be a line sincerely wanting to be put into a possible haunted building. And I would hate to see someone dressed as a zombie or in a sheet telling people to get inside, it would most likely have the opposite effect.  I never said we were intelligent.

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